Last week, The Economist reported on conflict between government troops and local rebels in Myanmar’s border region of Kokang—an area largely populated by Chinese-speaking ethnic Han—and how the fighting, now six weeks running, poses a problem for Beijing:
The conflict involves China partly because the fighting is on its doorstep: on March 8th stray bombs damaged a house on the Chinese side. Kokang also retains a special place in China’s psyche. It was part of the